Grow Hardy Kiwifruits for Beauty and Good Eating

Posted in Exhibitions, Gardening Tips, The Edible Garden on August 27 2009, by Plant Talk

Lee Reich, Ph.D., , who has worked in soil and plant research for the USDA and Cornell University, is a garden writer and consultant. He will be presenting at The Edible Garden on September 13.

It’s August as I write, and I’ve just picked a fruit that’s as uncommon as it is delectable—and it’s borne on a most beautiful plant. The fruit is hardy kiwifruit, which is in many ways similar to the fuzzy kiwifruits of our markets. Those fuzzies are cold tender, though, while hardy kiwifruits are, well, very cold hardy. Fruits of either species have lime-green flesh with tiny, black seeds and, when sliced crosswise, exhibit the lighter-colored rays that are the source of the generic name Actinidia (actin is Latin for “ray”). Their flavors are similar, except that hardy kiwifruits are a whit sweeter and more aromatic. The small, cold-hardy cousins of the fuzzy kiwifruits also are grape-size and have a smooth skin that’s edible, so you just pop the whole fruit into your mouth and enjoy.

Hardy kiwifruits were introduced into this country from western Asia over a hundred years ago not for their delectable fruit but for their beauty. The vines—originally distributed under the common name bower actinidias—can still be found growing as such on the grounds of many botanical gardens and old estates. (At NYBG, look for hardy kiwifruit vines in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.) I wonder how many visitors passed beside arbors or under pergolas over which the vines clambered, admiring the beauty of the plants but unaware of the fruit that hides so well beneath the foliage.

Things changed about 30 years ago when fruit enthusiasts started to become aware of those delectable treasures and began planting the vines for fruit harvest. (Both male and female plants are needed for fruiting.) Two species are prominent for their fruits. A. arguta is the more vigorous of the two. In the wild, it will often climb 100 feet high into trees, so needs adequate support and space—about 200 square feet per plant—in a garden. The apple-green leaves have red stalks and maintain their fresh, spring look throughout the growing season. With age, the trunks become ornamental with their decorative twists and bark that peels in long, gray strips. The fruits ripen from mid-September onward.

A. kolomikta, more subdued in growth, has leaves that are variegated silvery white and pink, the remaining patches of green sometimes so neatly presented that they seem painted on with an artist’s brush (something I jokingly assert to visiting children). Fruits of this species, which I am now enjoying, ripen in August.

Hardy kiwifruits are just the ticket for what I like to call “luscious landscaping,” that is, the use of fruiting plants as ornamentals in the landscape. They are among the fruits that I highlight in my books Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden and Landscaping with Fruit. Note that not every fruiting plant is landscape worthy. Hardy kiwifruits are landscape worthy because they are truly beautiful vines, because they bear truly delectable fruits, because they are easy to grow, and because pests are rarely a worry. The latter is especially important for fruit plants grown in back (and front) yards near decks, terraces, and swing sets.

For more about hardy kiwifruits and other landscape-worthy fruits, come to my presentation “Luscious Landscaping with Fruiting Trees, Shrubs, and Vines” at NYBG on Sunday, September 13, at 3 p.m. I plan to have available for tasting samples of hardy kiwifruits as well as some other luscious landscape fruits. If you’d like to follow along with what I’m growing in my garden, read my blog, In Lee’s Garden.